Business news and markets: live

• And boohoo.com, the online fashion retailer, is surging on its first day in trading. The company is up from 50p to 78p in its first half hour.

Government outsourcing 'needs urgent overhaul'

08.15 The Public Accounts Committee has published a scathing report on the Government's management of outsourcing contracts to companies such as G4S and Serco.

The committee says the contracts are not open to public scrutiny, meaning that the taxpayer could be paying too much. G4S and Serco are both facing hefty payouts after overcharging for criminal tagging contracts - G4S said earlier this week it would pay £109m .

Here's what the committee's chairman Margaret Hodge had to say:

We believe the government needs to urgently get its house in order so that this expenditure is properly open to public scrutiny, and that measures are put in place which will improve services and secure a better deal for the taxpayer.

Markets tumble as Ukraine fears back on the agenda

08.00 The Ukrainian crisis escalated overnight, with the country's acting president warning that the country must be ready for a Russian invasion "at any moment" .

The escalating threat of military action is sending markets falling this morning. The FTSE 100 is down 0.4pc at 6,531

The Russian Micex is down 4.15pc to its lowest level since 2009, and Japan's Nikkei fell 3pc this morning.

London Capital Group's Jonathan Sudaria has this to say:

With the West warning of sanctions on Russia should that happen, and Russia already exploring retaliatory actions to such sanctions, traders fear that the situation could easily spin out of control quicker than they can liquidate their positions

It's not been a pretty week for the FTSE. Here's the index since Monday

Today's business stories

07.45 Here's what's leading our business pages this morning

• Graham Ruddick reports on the £3bn that was wiped off the value of Britain's supermarkets yesterday after Morrisons launched a price war

• Louise Armitstead writes on Bank of England plans to force rogue bankers and bosses to hand back bonuses up to six years after they have been paid

• And Alistair Osborne reports on Shell cutting back US spending after struggling in the booming shale gas sector

Here's the front page of today's Business section:

Good morning

07.30 Good morning and welcome to our daily business and markets live blog, your one stop shop for all the breaking business stories of the day.

more